The need for temporary stage or platform facilities arises on many occasions. Raised platforms may be used for parties, temporary show facilities, school dances, parties in private homes, and on many other occasions where it is desirable to elevate an entertainment or eductional performance, such as a speaker, musical group, or the like. In the past, most temporary stage facilities were built in specific sizes on the expectation that the entertainer or speaker could adjust his needs to fit the available stage size. Most portable stages were undesirably small, since large stages were quite difficult to move and store. In some cases, a plurality of small stages were pushed together in an effort to form a single large stage; however, the result was an unstable stage having separations and/or uneven levels between the various stage sections. This situation could result in great danger to an entertainer in tripping and falling, with large potential liability to the proprietor of the property.
Another problem existing in stages of the prior art concerns the wearing of the stage surface. Portable platforms are subject to heavy wear from use and in movement from place to place. Gouges, chips, and scratches inflicted on the upper surface by heavy musical or sound equipment, dancers, and the like, along with impacts incurred during the transfer of stages into and out from storage create rapid deterioration of the upper surface. On previous stages, repair of the stage surface is more difficult and costly than building a new stage; therefore, it has been common to attempt to patch such imperfections in the hopes of increasing the useful life of the stage. The alternative to repairing the upper surface has been to discard the whole stage unit.
Another problem associated with stages of the prior art has been the practical adjustment of the height of the stages for various uses. Portable stages are generally constructed without height adjustability, and units have been stacked, or have been set on bricks, blocks, or other structural supports in an effort to increase their height from ground level. Stages with telescoping legs have generally been difficult to adjust to a perfect horizontal position, and have been prone to failure under heavy use. In addition, when more than one stage member having adjustable legs has been used in side-to-side fashion, problems have been encountered in adjusting both stages to the same height.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a stage which may be fabricated from a plurality of portable interlocking units, thereby providing a single level stage surface of variable size and shape. It is a further object of the invention to provide a stage unit which may be used as a building block to form a large stage with other stage units, each stage unit having interconnecting locking means to fasten the ends and sides of the unit to the ends and sides, respectively, of other identical units.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a stage unit having a plurality of support members, including two independent support member systems of differing heights.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide an interconnecting stage unit having a replaceable upper floor surface.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a specific embodiment of the invention.